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After the purchase of a new Browning Maxus, looking for some opinions on choke tubes. What do you guys use/prefer and what is the best place to get them? Have buddies that shoote patternmasters and rhinos, what are yalls thoughts or is it best to stick with the stock ones for all around shooting.

75% of the time, I shoot factor chokes.
other is a kicks that came in the gun I bought.

stock


chokes for bird hunting are a gimmick


shoot the shells that pattern the best

I shoot a Briley light modified because my gun didn't come with a LM. The rest of the time I shoot factory chokes.

DUCK-HUNT wrote:stock


chokes for bird hunting are a gimmick


shoot the shells that pattern the best

+1

You can pick a choke you want to shoot, and find a shell to pattern out of it. Or, pick a shell you want to shoot and find the choke that shoots it best.
I did the later. My $109 / case Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #4's shoot good out of my stock modified.

Definitely shoot your factory chokes first. You may be throwing good money out the window since you've never shot the gun and already want to buy an aftermarket choke.

CHECK OUT DRAKEKILLER.COM. HE CUSTOM MAKES YOUR CHOKE, BUT THE BEST PART IS HE PATTERNS HIS CHOKES FOR YOU AND TELLS YOU WHAT BRAND OF AMMO WORKS BEST.

We use Modified for everything

If you are going to shoot the factory chokes pattern them all... my factory Mod is tighter than my full ....IC pattern has huge holes in it...with the shells I'm shooting(Wingmaster HDs) Kicks IC (713) and Skeet(718) pattern the best (30 to 35 yards) JMO



Here's a good article on OEM chokes:
Why Shotgun Chokes Can Bewilder and Mislead

I just measured three Browning 20 gauge barrels at random with a Skeets bore gauge. They measured .614 inch, .618 inch, and .624 inch inside diameter. All three barrels were standard barrels that have a published spec of .617 inch, +/- .0015 in. None were on the money, two out of three were way out of published tolerance. (Invector Plus 20 gauge barrels are supposed to be .630 in. nominal, by the way.) This isn't uncommon, regardless of the brand of shotgun. While the notion of choke is pattern percentage based, not based on dimension, decreasing choke exit diameter tightens patterns.



A 20 gauge skeet choke is .615 inch exit diameter from several chokemakers. Yet, screwing that “Skeet” choke into the .614 inch barrel gives you essentially no choke effect. In the .618 in. barrel it would be in the range of a skeet choke, but in the .624 inch barrel it would be approximately in the “Improved Cylinder” range. This same issue is present regardless of what pattern you are trying to throw. A .015 in. constriction choke is theoretically a “Modified” or “Light Modified” choke. Yet, when your barrel is off by ten thousandths of an inch, you don't have near the choke you assumed you had, so it shouldn't be all that surprising when your so-called Modified choke acts like a skeet choke.


This ten thousandths variance, a full notch size, can be even worse. OEM chokes vary all over the place, with several “Modified” marked tubes actually having larger exit diameters than their “Improved Cylinder” counterparts. If you want to save yourself some time and hassle, know what your barrel actually measures and know what your choke tube exit diameter is before starting out. You may well not have any constriction at all, or conversely . . . you might have far more than assumed. While it is currently trendy to call choke designations a constriction, there is no such thing without verification of the inside diameter of your barrel and the exit diameter of a specific choke tube. Only then do you have a constriction dimension, the difference between these two inside diameters.



Copyright 2011 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.

B Vinci wrote:If you are going to shoot the factory chokes pattern them all... my factory Mod is tighter than my full ...

Your mod SEEMS tighter than your full because your full blows the pattern in steel shot. The full "over constricts" the pattern in steel shot causing the shot to go crazy coming out of the barrel.
Pattern the same two chokes in lead shot and see which is tighter.

teul2 wrote:

B Vinci wrote:If you are going to shoot the factory chokes pattern them all... my factory Mod is tighter than my full ...

Your mod SEEMS tighter than your full because your full blows the pattern in steel shot. The full "over constricts" the pattern in steel shot causing the shot to go crazy coming out of the barrel.
Pattern the same two chokes in lead shot and see which is tighter.

Shooting HD shells not steel and I did pattern them with lead. We measured them both and they were way of out spec.....Full was 702-should have been around 690...mod was 694-should be around 703. I've found this pretty common with factory chokes...had a browning Cynergy last year and those tubes were all over the place....For 50 to 60 dollars I am going to shoot something I know is the right constriction. JMO

B Vinci wrote:

teul2 wrote:

B Vinci wrote:If you are going to shoot the factory chokes pattern them all... my factory Mod is tighter than my full ...

Your mod SEEMS tighter than your full because your full blows the pattern in steel shot. The full "over constricts" the pattern in steel shot causing the shot to go crazy coming out of the barrel.
Pattern the same two chokes in lead shot and see which is tighter.

Shooting HD shells not steel and I did pattern them with lead. We measured them both and they were way of out spec.....Full was 702-should have been around 690...mod was 694-should be around 703.

Ok, sounds like they mis-labeled them or something.

I carry 2 chokes any more, True Cylinder in the green timber, and LMod everywhere else. Both are briley extended. Why not factory chokes? I hate the little wrenches, and if you finger tighten them without great attention, they can come flying out with the shot. I used to be a psycho choke patterning guy. I got over it.

I pretty much leave my briley LM extended in my duck gun. Its versatile and I dont have to over think it. About the extent of my patterning now is simply to make sure I dont have a hole in my pattern. I also like that an extended tube protects the end my barrel. Its way cheaper to replace a busted choke tube than barrel.

Briley LM for doves and ducks...